I entered adolescence in the disco era. I gotta admit, out of all the songs that they could play at the roller skating rink, you could do a lot worse. It was still the post-Woodstock decade and many attitudes weren't far removed from the ones that people ordinarily associate with the 60s. Cocaine was consumed openly...

Moving from the only home we'd known in our married life this spring required us to downsize in ways that once would have caused me oceans of anxiety. Certain material goods were so intertwined with my self-identity. As avid, life-long readers, our bookshelves were overflowing, although our reading has mostly been...

My siblings and I are retired or close to it, but we still have conversations that start with "Do you remember when Mom made X?" Thus commences a discussion of Old El Paso taco kits, Chef Boyardee pizzas, waffle irons, liver, English peas and frequently, bread burgers, a 70s-era delicacy, that sounds a bit awful...

I eat grits. I always have and I always will. Because they're delicious, that's why. Grits are a simple dish: ground corn, salt and a little butter, the traditional way. Sometimes folks get a little fancy and start adding cheese, chopped sausage or bacon and other delicacies. Grits are a savory dish. They are not...

If you listen to podcasts about endurance sports, you'll hear a common theme come up among the hikers, cyclists and runners whose idea of fun is covering long distances under their own power. Many of them are recovering addicts and alcoholics. They often say "I traded one addiction for another." That's me. After a...

Privilege comes and privilege goes. I've had stretches in my life where I lived frugally out of necessity, not because I had a hidden virtue. Later in life, with debts paid off, we managed to save some dough for retirement. Well, retirement arrived, and although we don't have "buy your own helicopter" money, we...

My parents were young when I was born, only 17, but despite the relatively small time gap, we are from distinctly different generations. They've been divorced since the 70s, so their needs and circumstances, while similar, are still unique. Last year, my dad and his wife moved to an assisted living facility about a...

All four of my grandparents lived into my adulthood. For most of my childhood, they were close enough that we could visit them often. Even though my parents split up the year I started school, my mom stayed close to my dad's family, so that was never an issue. As a child, I thought my grandparents were perfect. And...

I'm ready to grudgingly accept that the absolute market saturation of mattress retailers in America over the past 10 years isn't tied to money laundering, even though it's one of the few internet conspiracies that kind of, sort of, might possibly be true. I bought a mattress yesterday. First time in my life. I've...

We spend roughly one-third of our life asleep as a biological imperative. My relationship with sleep kind of tells my life story, not in dreams but in the pure mechanics of when I went to bed and when I got up. Oddly, sleep has seldom been a neutral element in my life. It's been something that either prevented me...

I worked with a guy for twenty years. I knew his three daughters by sight and watched them progress and graduate from the school system that employed their father and me. I knew this guy's wife, his father, his mom's health history. I knew what he did in the Air Force and I knew about most of the other jobs he'd...

My recipe for not hating myself consists of three elements: 1. Keep changing -- and by changing, I mean improving, and by improving, I don't mean "be more productive." I mean be a better person today than I was yesterday. Better means more patient, more kind, more loving. Not richer. 2. Practice gratitude. If I'm...